At the Gates of Spiritual Science

Schmidt Number: S-1371

On-line since: 15th June, 2008

LECTURE TEN

PROGRESS
OF MANKIND UP TOATLANTEAN TIMES

When the Earth reappeared
out of the darkness of Pralaya, it did not emerge alone; it was at first
united with the Sun and our present Moon. Sun, Moon and Earth formed
one huge body. This was the first stage of our planet.

At that time the Earth
consisted of a very, very tenuous substance. There were no solid minerals,
no water, only this subtle material we call ether. The whole body was
thus a planet made up of fine etheric material and surrounded by an
atmosphere of spirit, in the same way as our own Earth is surrounded
by air. This spirit-atmosphere contained everything which today constitutes
the human soul. Your souls, which today have come down into your bodies,
were at that time up above in this spirit-atmosphere. The Earth was a
vast globe of ether, very much bigger than our Earth today, and surrounded
by spiritual substance which contained the souls of mankind. Down below,
in the rarefied substance of the etheric globe, something rather denser
was present — millions of shell-like forms. These were the human
germs of the Saturn stage, now emerging as a recapitulation of the forms
developed on Saturn in ancient times.

There
was of course no possibility of physical reproduction or increase;
a quite different process prevailed in those times. The whole of the
spirit-atmosphere was, like our present atmosphere, a more or less
homogeneous whole, except that spiritual offshoots rather like tentacles
stretched down from it into the etheric globe and enveloped the shell-like
forms. You must picture the spirit descending from above and enfolding each
individual body. A tentacle worked on a body and built up a human form.
When one form was complete, the tentacle withdrew, stretched itself
in another direction and went to work on another body. The resulting
forms were thus brought forth directly by the spiritual worlds. In the
beginning there was a confused interwoven ether-substance, much denser
than the homogeneous divine-spiritual substance which stretched forth
its arms to create the forms out of chaos. This first epoch of our Earth
is well described in the book of Genesis: “In the beginning God
created Heaven and Earth and the Earth was without form, and void, and
the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.” The ether,
as it then was, is called “water” in occult science.

You could not then have
seen the Earth or the shell-like forms; they were resounding human forms,
and each one, as it came into being, expressed itself through a specific
note. The forms possessed no individuality, for individuality was still
dissolved in the spirit-atmosphere. Seven kinds of forms could be
distinguished by their ground-notes. These seven groups constituted the
first human Root-race.

After millions of years
a great cosmic event took place: the whole vast ether-body contracted
and assumed a biscuit-like shape which it retained for a period. Finally
a small part, consisting of Earth and Moon, separated off from the whole.
An important stage in human evolution is bound up with this occurrence.
The germinal human forms were differentiated and articulated; and because
of the departure of the Sun, objects could now for the first time be
illuminated from outside. All our seeing depends on the fact that the
Sun's rays fall on some object and are reflected back. When the Sun
withdrew, there were now bodies in existence on which it could shine,
and this led to the development of an organ of sight, for light is truly
the creator of the eyes. The germinal human forms, which had hitherto
been maintained by the common divine atmosphere, could now see their
environment. This period is described in Genesis with the words: “And
God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light
that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”
The whole of the Earth's body now began to revolve and thus there were
day and night. When we read the Bible in the light of occult science,
we can again take it all literally.

A great number of the
spiritual Beings who had surrounded the Earth had gone forth with the
Sun. They formed the spiritual population of the Sun and exerted their
influence on the Earth from the Sun. The etheric human forms were now
furnished with an astral covering. The united body of Earth and Moon
was surrounded by an astral atmosphere which had previously been dissolved
in the spiritual atmosphere. The ether, which had earlier existed as
the basic substance, had now condensed into independent etheric bodies
surrounding the separate physical forms, which in their turn had become
denser.

In contrast to the etheric
body, however, the astral body had as yet no independent existence:
there was still a common astral covering for all beings. This was the
Earth-spirit, which now again stretched forth its tentacles and enveloped
each single human ancestor. And now a new faculty appeared: each human
form could produce another out of its own substance — a sort of
reproduction without fertilisation between two beings. When the
fertilisation withdrew from one form, it sank into another without a
break. It was rather the same as when part of the front of a cloud
detaches itself and is immediately replaced by another part from behind.
It was no more than a metamorphosis; an uninterrupted continuity of
consciousness prevailed. The experience was like that of a simple change
of clothes. The whole planet was bathed in wonderful beauty; it floated
in glorious colours in the light-ether, and gradually condensed.

Side by side with the
ancestors of humanity there were already forms of plants and animals,
destined to be man's companions. The plants were of the lower types
which have now become dwarfed. The animals, too, had not yet acquired
their present-day shapes. There were shining plants and animals that
whirled through the ether. All were still of one sex, except that certain
animals were beginning to develop bi-sexual rudiments. There was still
no real mineral kingdom. Then the etheric forms gradually became more
and more densified, with increasing absorption of the astral element.

After the passing of a
further million years or so, Earth and Moon had acquired a very different
appearance. Animals and plants were now like jelly or white of egg,
rather like some of our jelly-fishes and sea-plants. In this more condensed
form of matter were to be found the ancestors of humanity, with rudimentary
organs. The forms of animals and plants were increasingly densified
by the fertilising astral force. Then came an important stage when the
fertilising Beings in the astral atmosphere permeated the nature-forms
of that time, so that man and animals were able to draw directly from
the vegetable kingdom the substances they needed for nourishment and
for reproduction. The plants secreted a substance rather like present-day
milk; a last survivor of these milk-secreting plants is the dandelion.
So the human beings of that time were nourished and fertilised by the
nature around them, and they were self-less. They were complete
vegetarians, absorbing only what nature freely offered, and living on
juices similar to milk and honey. It was a wonderful state of existence
in those primeval days, scarcely describable in our modern language.

Then came an immensely
important event: Earth and Moon separated. The smaller body of the Moon
split off from the Earth. Now there were three bodies: Sun, Moon and
Earth. This had far-reaching consequences for all living beings: the
Moon carried off with it a great part of the forces that human beings
and animals needed in order to reproduce themselves. Each individual
now had only half the fertilising power he had previously possessed,
and the result was a gradual emergence of two sexes. Man now had to
receive the fertilising power from another being like himself. This
was the Lemurian epoch, that of the third Root-race.

During this period, too,
matter began to become harder and more solid. Shortly before the separation
of Earth and Moon denser deposits had been formed, and after the separation
cartilaginous substances, leading towards bone-formation, began to appear
in the bodies of men and animals. The solidity of the bones developed,
in correspondence with the solidifying of the Earth's crust. By degrees,
solid mineral forms appeared. Previously, everything had been etheric,
then airy, then watery; the various beings swam as though in water or
flew as though in air. Now the Earth developed a solid skeleton of rocks,
parallel with the development of the human skeleton. Bone-formation
and rock-formation went hand in hand. The human form at that time was
something like a fish-bird-animal. Most of the Earth was still watery
and the temperature was still very high. This watery element contained
in solution much that later on became solid — our present-day
metals, for instance, and other substances. Human beings moved in it
with a swimming, floating motion. They were well able to endure the
tremendous heat which reigned on Earth; their bodies were still constituted
of a material which corresponded to the prevailing conditions, and in
this way they could live.

Small continents on which
men could roam about were embedded like islands in the water; but the
whole Earth was riddled with volcanic activity which constantly destroyed
parts of the Earth with immense violence, so that elemental destruction
and rebuilding went on continually, turn by turn.

As yet man had no lungs;
he breathed through tubular gills. But he was already a very complex
organism; he had deposited in himself a backbone, at first cartilaginous
and then bony, and in order to propel himself as he floated and swam
he had a swim-bladder, rather like that of some present-day fish.

Soon — but this
means after millions of years — the Earth became more solid. The
water withdrew and separated from the solid parts; the air developed
its own purity, and under the influence of the air the swim-bladder
changed into lungs. Man now raised himself out of the watery element
— a specially important and significant event. The gills were
transformed into organs of hearing. With the development of lungs, man
learnt to breathe, and then all mankind lived in a common element, the
air. Each human being breathed in his portion of air, shaped it to his
own fire, and breathed it out again. In the beginning, therefore, man
was filled with pure spirit, later with the astral element, and finally
with air. As soon as he had reached the stage where the breathing of
heat was transformed into the breathing of air, that which Mars had
provided was turned to good account; human blood became warm. The moment
had come when something spiritual which had previously surrounded man
entered into him — and how? Through the air. The capacity to breathe
signifies the acquisition of the individual human spirit. The Ego enters
into him together with the air he breathes. If we speak of an Ego common
to all men, it also has a common body, the air. Not without reason did
the ancients call this universal Ego, Atma — Atmen, the
breath. They knew very well that they drew it in with the breath and
breathed it out again. We live in one common Ego because we live in the
all-pervading air. Of course the event I have been describing must not be
taken too literally. The sinking down of the individual Ego into man is
spoken of in theosophical literature as the descent of Manas, or
Manasaputra. With every breath, man slowly took in Manas, Buddhi and Atma,
more or less germinally. Genesis describes this moment and we can take it
literally: “And God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and Adam
was a living soul.” This is the reception of the individual
spirit.

Man
now had warm blood also, and was thus able to retain warmth permanently
within himself. And with this something further of great importance
is bound up.

On the Old Moon there
were Beings who were at a higher stage of evolution than the humanity
of that time: these were the gods who in Christian tradition are called
Angels and Archangels. They had once been at the human stage, but in
the course of time they had ascended higher, just as we, too, will have
ascended higher when we reach the next planetary stage. Although they
no longer had a physical body, they were still connected with the Earth.
They were no longer subject to human needs, but they needed men to rule
over.

When the Old Moon had
completed its evolution, some of these gods had not fully evolved with
it; they had to remain as they were. They had not progressed as far
as they should have done. Thus there were beings halfway between gods
and men — demi-gods. They became quite especially important for
the Earth and for humanity. They could not rise completely beyond the
human sphere, but equally they could not incarnate in human bodies.
They could establish themselves only in one part of human nature, so
as to use this part for furthering their own evolution and at the same
time to help mankind. On the Moon they had breathed fire, and in the
fire which had become permanent in man, in the warm human blood —
the original seat of passions and desires — they took up their
abode, and imparted to man some of the fire which had been their element
on the Moon. These are the hosts of Lucifer, the Luciferic beings: the
Bible calls them the tempters of humanity. They tempted man in so far
as they lived in his blood and gave him independence. Without these
Luciferic beings, everything would have come to man as a gift from the
gods. Man would have been wise, but not independent; enlightened, but
not free. Because these beings anchored themselves in his blood, man
not only became wise, but could be fired with enthusiasm for wisdom
and ideals.

At the same time, however,
the possibility of error arose: man was now able to turn his back on the
highest and to choose between good and evil. The Lemurian race gradually
evolved with this disposition, this inherent possibility of evil, and
in consequence the Earth had to endure great upheavals, convulsions
and earthquakes. In the end, Lemuria was destroyed through these passionate
impulses of mankind.

Meanwhile, the Earth had
undergone further changes and had become more solid. Other continents
had arisen, and most important among them was Atlantis, between present-day
Europe, Africa and America. The descendants of the Lemurian race had
spread over this continent. In the course of millions of years they
had greatly changed, and had acquired a form which resembled the form
of man today. Yet they were very different from modern man. The shape
of the head and forehead was quite different; the forehead was much
lower and the digestive organs were much more powerful. The etheric
body of an Atlantean extended far beyond and around his head. In the
etheric body there was an important point which corresponded with a
point in the physical head. In the course of Atlantean evolution the
two points drew together, until the point in the etheric body sank into
the physical. At the moment when these two points coincided, man could
begin to say “I” to himself. The forepart of the brain could
now develop as an instrument for the spirit; self-consciousness began.
All this happened first among those Atlanteans who dwelt in the
neighbourhood of modern Ireland.

The Atlanteans gradually
evolved though seven sub-races: Rmoahals, Tlavatli, and primal Toltecs,
Turanians, Semites, Akkadians and Mongols. It was among the primal Semites
that the unification of the two points first occurred, and clear
self-consciousness arose. The two following sub-races, the primal
Akkadians and Mongols, really went beyond the goal of Atlantean
humanity.

Until the two points were
thus united, the soul-powers of the Atlanteans were fundamentally different
from our own. The Atlanteans had a much more mobile body, and, especially
in their early times, a very powerful will. They were able, for instance,
to replace a lost limb; they could make plants grow, and so on. Thus
they exercised a powerful influence over nature. Their sense-organs
were more strongly developed: they could distinguish different metals
by touch, just as we can distinguish smells. They still possessed also
a high degree of clairvoyance. Their sleep at night was not like that
of modern man, who mostly has only confused dreams; it was rather a
dimmer sort of clairvoyance. During the night they were in touch with
the gods, and what they experienced lived on in myths and legends. They
pressed the powers of nature into their service; their dwellings were
partly natural structures and partly hewn out of rocks. They constructed
airships which were not propelled by inorganic forces, such as coal,
but by the use of the organic, germinating power of plants.

As long as the two points
I have mentioned were not yet united, the Atlanteans had no combinative
intellect; for instance they could not count. But to make up for that
they had particularly well-developed memories. A logical combinative
intellect and self-consciousness emerged only with the fifth sub-race,
the primal Semites.

Atlantis perished in a
vast water-catastrophe; the whole continent was gradually flooded, and
most of the people migrated eastward towards Europe and Asia. One of
the main groups passed through Ireland and Europe to Asia; everywhere
numbers of people remained behind. The Leader was a high Initiate in
whom the migrants had complete faith; through his wisdom he picked out
the best of them to accompany him to a distant part of Asia, where he
settled them in the district now known as the Gobi Desert. There a small
colony developed in complete isolation. From there colonisers went out
into all inhabited lands and founded the civilisations of the next
Root-race: the Indian, the Persian, the Egypto-Chaldean-Assryian, the
Graeco-Latin. And then the AngloSaxon-Germanic civilisation arose.